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Title: Fisheries management under the Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the Endangered Species Act. Final report

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6644547

The purpose of this report is to determine what steps might be taken to ensure that fishery management plans (FMPs) developed under the Fishery Conservation and Management Act (FCMA) are ecologically sound and fully consistent with the FCMA and with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The relevant provisions of the three Acts were examined and four FMPs were reviewed in detail. Persons involved in developing, reviewing and implementing FMPs were interviewed. It appears that FMPs are based primarily on single species rather than ecosystem oriented management concepts, so are not fully consistent with the FCMA, and that FMPs do not effectively incorporate potential impacts on non-target species into determining optimum fishery yields, so are not fully consistent with the FCMA or the ESA. In many cases data are sufficient for developing ecosystem oriented management plans. This report recommends that experts on marine mammals, birds, etc. become involved in FMP drafting, that guidelines for FMP preparation be amended to emphasize impacts on nontarget ecosystem components.

Research Organization:
Hammond (Katherine A. Green), Houston, TX (USA)
OSTI ID:
6644547
Report Number(s):
PB-80-180599
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English